"Salmacis".
Salmacis was a fountain, located near the mausoleum at Halicarnassus. In classical times, it was attributed to
"make effeminate all who drink from it" Strabo ’’XIV.2.16’’This was illustrated by helenic sculpters, who produced several works depicting a person of dual-gender. The power of the spring was rejected by other romans, such as the architect Vitruvius
"there is a mistaken idea that this spring infects those who drink of it... it cannot be that the water makes men effeminate"Vitruvius ’’On Architecture’’ 2. 11-12
Salmacis was an atypical nymph, rejecting the ways of the virginal goddess of the hunt Diana in favor of vanity and idleness. Her attempted rape of Hermaphroditus places her as the only nymph rapist in the Greek mythological canon.
"There dwelt a Nymph, not up for hunting or archery:In Ovid's Metamorphoses, she becomes one with Hermaphroditus, and Hermaphroditus curses the fountain to have the same effect on others. However, It is very likely that Ovid fabricated the entire tale himself, his use of "praetereo, dulcique animos nouitate tenebo." could be read in several ways, as nouitate could be translated as either some strange or something new, which would imply that it was a new tale.
unfit for footraces. She the only Naiad not in Diana’s band.
Often her sisters would say: “Pick up a javelin, or
bristling quiver, and interrupt you leisure for the chase!”
But she would not pick up a javelin or arrows,
nor trade leisure for the chase.
Instead she would bathe her beautiful limbs and tend to her hair, with her
waters as a mirror."
Ovid ’’Metamorphoses’’ IV. 306-312
Salmacis could also have been intended simply as a contrast to the previous tales in Ovid's Metamorphoses, as others involve a dominant male persuing an elusive female.
The Fountain of Salmacis by Genesis, on the album Nursery Cryme (1971)
Салмакида | Salmakis | Salmacis | Salmacis | Salmace
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the "Salmacis".
Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world